Chapter 511: For you... Anything
The woman’s plump lips pressed together as she pouted. She wore a dirty lab coat with her black laced bra on display and tilted her head with inquisitive eyes. "You look different." Nikolai didn’t understand what she meant and just stared into her soft blue eyes and face.
"You look much healthier, Sasha."
"Oh, really?"
’Even your atmosphere has become completely different!’
He lowered his gaze to her chest and gasped.
’Her scars look better, even those strange organs are gone.’
"Are you checking out my breasts?" Sasha’s low voice teased, while looking at the cute Marianne, who turned away with blushed cheeks. "I’ve used the research here to re-graft and completely heal those old wounds, Nikolai."
’This woman!’
"You used yourself as an experiment... why!?"
He wasn’t sure if it was because of her race, the initial attraction he felt towards her because of his experiences with mermaids or her natural charm. Or maybe he was just a scumbag who wanted to fuck her. "Stop using your body like a pincushion."
Sasha’s eyes froze, her face glued to his with mouth open wide and slow, careful breaths. She remained like this for several moments before shaking her head. "Wow." She recovered from her shock, fluttering her eyelashes seductively. "Hey, Stud are you trying to tempt me?"
"Shut up. I just hate the fact you use your body that way."
"Brother Nikolai... you should calm down." Marianne’s lovely voice pulled him back to reality as she gently gripped his arm with both hands.
’In just a few months, she’s recovered well from being kept in captivity.’
Marianne’s dull red eyes regained a vivid hue since the last time he met her. But the way she looked up at him with slightly wet eyes was like poison. He could only stop bothering Sasha and focus on the task at hand.
"Fine, forget it."
’Why did i even care in the first place?’
However, when his gaze left her, Sasha took a moment to adjust, her lips curling into a smile as she mouthed the words "thank you," while hugging her shoulders and wiping the corners of her eyes.
Nikolai stepped towards the main room, and the sharp scent of ammonia and chemicals flooded his nose. He suddenly recoiled and covered his face because a burning irritation spread to his lungs.
"S-Shall we get to business?"
His nose and cheeks became slightly red from the mixture.
"Wait, Nikolai use this."
Sasha took a cute pink mask from her pocket and placed it on his face, then quickly fastened it in place with a smile. He took a deep breath, and the burning faded, now just a tingle. However, the cloth carried a sweet and unique aroma of Sasha’s body.
"Phew, thanks, Sasha."
The scientist beamed at him while wearing a second mask. Marianna seemed prepared as she wore a cute black mask with whiskers and a cat’s mouth in the centre. ’She looks so cute. Alexei, I can see why you adore your sister.’
"Well, let’s just head inside."
Nikolai tried to hide his unsettled feelings and the nerves about today’s experiment and pressed the green keypad as the huge metal door opened with a low hydraulic hiss.
He stepped inside first with the other two people chasing his back.
***
Inside the room, pumps pushed various coloured liquids through the huge machine that pumped into a smaller funnel, which connected to a strange IV drip. ’What?’ The drip connected to a body on the table. "Mother?"
A woman lay on the table covered by a white sheet.
Unlike the perfected bodies of Lunaria and Amphitrite, it was an almost perfect replica of his mother’s previous look in the earlier photographs he saw in his dad’s room. She had silky black hair down to her hips, the eyes hidden, but he could bet they were scarlet red like his in his vampire form.
The pale skin looked a little off, but this body was something his aunt, father and this scientist created using other parts.
"Dad really must’ve gone all out with this... I barely have memories of her, and she looks perfect to me."
A sudden cold chill spread from her body, freezing the air as a familiar voice leaked into his mind. "Does your mother look good? Is he pretty? fufu~"
"Mother... I missed hearing your voice." Although he could speak in his mind, he didn’t know how to explain it. He reached out, holding her hand, gently squeezing it. "I tried really hard to become a man you would be proud of."
Today would be a dangerous experiment to save and revive his mother.
"Oh, my boy, please, speaking out loud will confuse those cute girls behind you."
"..."
His mother was too powerful.
He looked back at Sasha and Marianne, who both looked at him with strange expressions. In the past, he noticed the red blush on their cheeks and ignored it. But their reactions became more obvious to him after his recent evolution and growth.
’I didn’t realise both of them...’
"Now now, don’t be stupid. You’re young, rich, powerful, handsome and the Patriarch of the strongest werewolf faction in the world... what woman wouldn’t fall like a sack of bricks when saved by you?"
His mother’s scolding voice felt both nostalgic and a little sharp because she knew just what to say to make him accept it.
’Alright, Alright! I know, Mother, please calm yourself and take it easy. Today is..."
"I know, Nikolai. You’ve worked so hard for this, so has your dad and those lovely girls who love to speak about you while working on my new body... can you understand how horrifying it is to hear about my son’s sex life!?"
’...’
Nikolai looked back at the two girls with a broken smile, his lips trembling. "Can you both get ready? Who else is needed?" He didn’t know the specifics, but to ensure nothing went wrong, he would be here to offer his blood, as it was like a universal band-aid.
’No matter what, Mother, I will bring you back.’
"Nikolai, stand back, please help me, Marianne..." Sasha’s face became more serious as the door opened again with a hiss. This time, it was Amphitrite who stepped inside, her hips wide, waist narrow, as she wore a lab coat, pencil skirt, white shirt and glasses.
’She looks like we’re about to star in a porn scene. So damn sexy!’
"Son, your mother can hear your thoughts in this room..."
"..."
"Now we’ve practised this several times, but Nikolai, this is your first time. I will now explain what you need to do and when to do it." Amphitrite and Sasha worked like one person split into two bodies and mixed their blood into a secondary IV along with Marianne’s blood.
"This mixture will help form the hybrid core that should allow Mrs Volkov to awaken," Sasha mumbled, her blood pouring into the silver basin.
"With the addition of our blood nourished by the Mermaid’s tear, and Marianne’s blood enriched and replenished with hers... it should be enough to bind the soul and body."
"What comes next?" He asked, the hairs on his arms standing up as he watched the women all moving without doubt. It removed all his worries and curiosity about how much practice and work they’d put into this.
"Your blood... Not only is it the same blood as her soul and original body. It’s also the third and final ingredient to create life and will bring the artificial body alive when combined with the other two ingredients.
"What if something goes wrong?"
Amphitrite’s usually teasing eyes sharpened, her voice immediately becoming cold and heavier. "If something goes wrong..." She hesitated for a moment with a rare crack in her usual confidence. "The soul could reject the vessel. It could scatter before we can anchor it. And if that happens, there’s no second chance."
Silence settled over the lab like a weight. Even the pumps and monitors seemed quieter, as if the machines themselves held their breath at Nikolai’s sudden change.
"That’s where your blood will come in." Sasha continued. "With enough of your blood, then the force should ignore the rejection and become a bonding agent. Between body and soul."
Nikolai swallowed.
’No second chance.’
All the battles, all the bloodshed, and every sacrifice he’d made. They were all to reach this point. It meant nothing if he faltered now. But as his gaze returned to the pale, sleeping figure on the table, the doubt melted away.
"I don’t care," he whispered. "Even if it means bleeding myself dry! I’ll bring her back."
"Son! You cannot do something dangerous, I won’t allow it!"
’To save you I would let the world burn.’
"Eh..."
Since becoming a father and marrying his wives, he learned the gravity and importance that his mother must have meant to his dad. Not just him. Nikolai convinced himself he did nothing for his father, and that’s why he needed this.
’I want to see Dad’s genuine smile again.’
That silenced his mother’s voice as she gave muffled sobs.
Sasha and Marianne exchanged a glance before nodding. Amphitrite gestured to the final station, a silver-lined pedestal beside the main IV drip. "Then come. All that’s left is your part."
Nikolai stepped forward, his pulse thrumming in his ears. The cool air bit at his skin as he rolled up his sleeve, exposing the veins beneath. He clenched his fist once, steadying his breath.
"For you, Mother," he murmured.
As the needle pricked his skin and the first drops of his blood joined the swirling crimson mixture, the lights around the chamber dimmed and the machine roared to life.
The ritual had begun.